Nearly 3 out of 100 Americans have a food allergy, according to a new study believed to be the largest one conducted on food allergies.

The study of 8,200 people of all ages was conducted by Johns Hopkins Children's Center, the National Institutes of Health and other institutions. NIH funded the study. It found more than 2.5 percent of the population, or 7.5 million people, have at least one food allergy.

The most common allergy is peanuts antibodies, the proteins made by the immune system in response to allergens. Others big allergens were allergic to shrimp, eggs, milk. Many people had more than one allergy.

The use of antibodies allowed the researchers to see only those with actual disease and not a risk for allergies.

The findings are published in the October issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and are based on blood samples and interviews.

In general, allergies were most common in children 5 and younger, followed by those 6 to 19. Black people were more likely to have allergies, as were men. The researchers also looked for links to asthma, eczema and hay fever, and found a allergies were more common in those with asthma.

“Our findings confirm a long-suspected interplay between food allergies and asthma, and that people with one of the conditions are at higher risk for the other,” says investigator Dr. Robert Wood, director of Allergy and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

He said many children develop a food allergy first and later get asthma and then hay fever.

Associated Press photo